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Burial is weighing on family

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Sunday, 31 December 2006

BY PETER KADUSHIN and MIKE JACCARINO
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

December 31,2006

The day after an 800-pound man was found dead in his apartment, his loved ones were worried they won't have the money for the special arrangements his funeral will require.

Larry (Conceited) Cooper, 38, a former breakdancer, died in his sleep at his Riverside Drive home on Friday, leaving behind a slew of memories and a dilemma proportional to his girth.

"We're still trying to figure out how to pay for the arrangements," said his father, Larry McConneghey, 64. "Special arrangements are going to have to be made because of his size. It's not a normal funeral."

Funeral directors say it could cost twice the usual amount to bury a man of Cooper's size.

A double- or triple-X sized coffin would probably be necessary, and that comes with a price tag of $3,500, about $1,000 more than the average coffin. And the family might be forced to buy two burial plots.

Anthony Tenga, funeral director for Greenwich Village Funeral Home, said he once successfully handled a funeral for a 1,000-pound man.

"It went fine," he said. "I made sure that I did my homework and went around measuring church doors and church aisles and made sure that my hearse could accommodate.

"It didn't, and I had to use a Suburban. But everything went off without a hitch."

The medical examiner ruled yesterday that Cooper died of morbid obesity after an external autopsy.

Cooper wowed crowds during the early 1990s with his breakdancing skills, but eventually ballooned to more than 800 pounds.

"At 5 years old, he wanted to be a dancer," his father said. "At 15, he started a dance group and gave lessons to people. That's where he got the nickname 'Conceited.'

"Ever since a young age, he wanted to rule the world, but it's hard to do that from a bed."

Despite the limitations imposed on him by his mammoth size, "he eventually got satisfied with his weight," his father said. "He was happy that way. He had lots of friends that always came up to see him. He didn't mind the way he was."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/484487p-407904c.html

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Taphophilia?

taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)

ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"

DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries

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